Page:A Child of the Jago - Arthur Morrison.djvu/89

 "When you find anythink," he said, "jist like you found that watch, don't tell nobody an' don't let nobody see it. Bring it 'ere quiet, when there ain't any p'liceman in the street, an' come right through to the back o' the shop, an' say, 'I come to clean the knives.' Unnerstand? 'I come to clean the knives.' There ain't no knives to clean—it's on'y a way o' tellin' me you got somethink without other people knowin.' An' then I'll give you somethink for it—money p'raps, sometimes, or p'raps cake or wot not. Don't forget. 'I come to clean the knives.' See?"

Yes, Dicky understood perfectly; and Dicky saw a new world of dazzling delights. Cake—limitless cake, coffee, and the like, whenever he might feel moved thereunto; but more than all, money—actual money; good broad pennies, perhaps whole shillings—perhaps even more still; money to buy bullock's liver for